Valerie Cogsworth
by brokenandforgottenandroid
Summary: Valerie Cogsworth lives with her dad in a small little Victorian town. Her best friend is a man named Jack. When trouble starts brewing what will valerie have to do in order to save her home?


Chapter One

Valerie Cogsworth lived a simple life. She lived and worked with her father Anthony Cosworth.

Valerie didn't look too much like her dad, but she looked a lot like her deceased mother Ada

Cogsworth. They both worked at a locksmiths shop. Valerie usually went out and got the

materials needed to make and fix clocks, watches, pocket watches, and more.

Valerie sat on her light brown wooden stool at the front counter of her shop, she looked at a broken copper pocket watch. She grabbed a screwdriver and popped open the back. A small spring sprung out and rolled off the counter onto the floor. She inspected the internals of the pocket watch to see what kind of gears and screws it had. Her chestnut brown eyes looked at the customer who was waiting patiently, she smiled gently " I have the right parts for your pocket watch, but I won't be able to get it to you until Thursday."

"How much will it cost for you to fix it?" The customer asked her.

"Fifteen pounds please" Valerie responded with as she brought the pocket watch up to her eye so she can see inside of it again.

The customer put the correct amount of money on the counter and left after thanking her.

Valerie felt someone tug her ponytail and she turned her head to see her smiling father. "How's

your morning going Val? Any customers?"

Valerie smiles and looks back at the pocket watch in her hands, "My morning is going well, I've

had a couple of customers and one just left. How is your morning?"

"Oh it's just fantastic, I have to run to town and have to get another steel plate, I need to make a copy of a house key for Miss Adeline," Anthony responded with sighing, he took his brown leather glove off of his right hand and ran a hand through his short black hair.

Valerie offered to go into town to get the steel plate for him. She takes off her own leather gloves and got up off of her wooden stool. She walked to the back room of the shop and took off her work jacket and hung it up on the coat rack. Then she tied a pouch full of coins to a string on her blue and back dress and put her messenger back over her shoulder so it rested on the opposite hip. She put on her black hat that had goggles around them after taking her ponytail out and fixes her wavy brown hair.

She walked back into the shop and waves to Anthony as she walks out the door. She started

down the gravel road past other shops and a couple of small bakeries. There was an occasional tree but mostly the trees were the opposite direction of the pier. Valerie thought about her brother Archie, she wondered when he was coming to visit again. It's been a few months since his last visit, he was a cargo transporter. He made sure the cargo on ships made it to their destination with little to no trouble.

As Valerie made her way to the steel shop, she greeted people passing by, she neared the pier

and looked at the ships as she walked. Someone put her hands on her shoulders yelling "boo!"

She jumped and a scream escaped her mouth, she whirled around looking at the person who startled her. She saw it was her childhood friend Jack Helinger. She put her hand over her heart counting the ticks she felt to calm herself down "Damn it Jack, how many times do I have to tell

you not to scare me!"

"I couldn't help myself, Val, you're so easy to scare it's funny." Jack laughed at Valerie's reaction.

"Remind me why I'm friends with you again." She sighed out, fighting back a smile. She knew what he would say.

"Because you love me and I'm the only one who doesn't think your crazy." Jack rolled his eyes

in a joking manner and blew his brown hair out of his eyes.

Valerie smiles laughing, "You love my ideas Jack, don't deny it. You have fun on the trips I drag

you on." She heard a loud foghorn sounding off in the distance, she looked towards the pier smiling "A cargo ship will be docking soon. What do you think they're bringing?"

"Probably the same thing as always. Steel, copper, and a lot of parts for the shops." Jack responded with looking at the pier as well. Valerie sighed softly, she thought about how life would be if she was able to travel. She had always asked her brother what it was like and he would always respond with different stories.

He would also tell her how dangerous it was, there would sometimes be high winds that would

topple the ships, stormy skies and thrashing waves that would sink a ship, and when you go further in the sea there would be vicious pirates. The pirates would shoot their cannons at the cargo ships, then board them to steal the goods on the boat and kill the boatmates. Valerie knew the sea was no place a lady but she wanted to travel the world.

Valerie and Jack walked down the pier watching the crew members of each ship unload and load their boats. She saw that a military horse was tied to the pier hand railing and heard the

General talking to the captain of a ship. She hid behind the bow of the nearest ship and listened

to their conversation, knowing she should just leave and get the steel plate but she was too curious.

"A village in the east is destroyed, some say a dragon came through and scorched the village.

Barely anything was standing, and barely a soul in sight, I don't think even the dead werestirring, it was that vacant." The rough voice of the captain reached her ears, his tone was full of

urgency and sincerity.

"Are you sure it wasn't just pirates? Pirates are very common over in the East." The General responded with a calm and certain tone.

"Pirates don't go that far inland, and their soldiers would be searching the village putting out fires and rescuing people. Everything was burnt down and I swear not a soul in sight nor a

whisper to be heard"

Valerie moved away from her hiding spot and slowly walked to Jack, she was full of dread. She looked at Jack and recited what she heard, "A village in the East is Completely burnt to the

ground, it's believed that a dragon is the real culprit"

"It was probably pirates, dragon attacks are so rare, it's been years since an attack" Jack

responded with tilting his head to the right looking at Valerie.

"Pirates don't go that far inland, they raid the coastline and the houses close to the coastline.

The captain said that the entire village was burnt down, nothing was left standing and no one was in sight" Valerie said. The two stayed quiet for a couple of minutes just looking at each other. After a couple of minutes Valerie started walking down the pier again, she kept her hands around her messenger back strap. Jack followed Valerie down the pier


End file.
